Color and the Appearance of Objects To the Editor: Regrettably, an article in the earlier series "The Chemistry of Art" [Thomas B. Brill, "Why Ohjects Appear as They Do," J. CHEM. EDUC.,57,259 (1980)l contains some serious misconceptions and misstatements about which the reader should be warned. In discussing the origins of color, Brill correctly mentions absorotion and includes interference and Ravleigh scattering, whici are relatively minor effects, but ignores the overwhelmingly important multiple scattering of light by particles comparable in size to the wavelength. Without this phenomenon we would live in a strange world indeed, for it is light scattering, not surface reflection as Brill postulates, that leads to translucency, opacity, and the color perceptions we call white. Regrettably, much of Brill's article consists of efforts to exolain various ~henomenawithout invokinn - scattering. M a w of his argument- are incorrect, nnd rnillq of the phrn
